Introduction to manipulator simulators

This course presents an overview of manipulator simulators compatible with ROS. It will illustrate the capabilities and limits of such simulators and present examples such as Gazebo, a standard simulator for ROS, the e.DO cube to emulate the e.DO manipulator robot from COMAU, and pyBullet, a Python simulator with a focus on robotic kinematics.
Further Learning Outcomes are:The learner is acquainted to configure the simulators/emulators and use them for exemplary small scenarios, like following or planning a trajectory.
The participants describe the role of manipulator simulators in robotics research and development and how they can be used for testing and experimentation.They explain the basic kinematic and dynamic models of robotic manipulators, and how they are represented in the simulators.The participants install and configure manipulator simulators, such as Gazebo.They configure and test ROS nodes and packages in manipulator simulators, including joint position, velocity, and torque control.This Learning Path contributes to the achievement of the Learning Outcome “Innovation and technology skills and competencies”. in the following manner. Firstly, it covers the existing state-of-the-art in developing simulators or digital twins for the manipulators. Second, the theoretical knowledge is directly tied towards developing an innovative emulator for the manipulator e.DO developed in-house in COMAU.